Never Tickle A Sleeping Dragon
by Maddiexo15
Summary: "You liked it, didn't you?" It was hard to miss the smirk in his voice. "Like is a strong word, Malfoy. I wouldn't go that far. Let's say, I tolerated it." Hermione and Draco get paired up for Potions, and perhaps the Gryffindor Princess isn't as upset about it as she appears.


**Hey guys! So, this is my first writing piece in a while, but I'm liking how it's turned out.**

 **I plan for this to be a one-shot, but I could definitely be persuaded to take the story further (I might take it further anyways, but encouragement is always nice, tehe).**

 **DISCLAIMER: If you recognize it, I don't own it.**

 _Draco Dormiens Nunquam Titillandus_

Hermione Granger smiled ruefully to herself, both cursing and marveling at how painstakingly fitting the Hogwarts' motto seemed to fit her current situation.

Never tickle a sleeping dragon... _Merlin -- after this, no need to tell me twice_ , she thought to herself.

With one last scathing look at a particular blond-- ahem, _Dragon_ , the witch furiously strutted down the empty dungeon corridor, refusing to let the egotistical git see her madly blushing face any longer.

How had Hermione Granger found herself in such fine company, one might ask? Well, it went a little something like this:

 **FLASHBACK -- HALF AN HOUR AGO**

 _The 'Golden Trio', as they had been dubbed, shared a laugh as they entered the Potions classroom. Now, it wasn't quite particularly important what they'd been laughing about, but rather that they had been laughing at all. Almost instantly, their laughter died off as they heard the infamous drawl of none other than Draco Malfoy._

 _"Potty, Weaslbee..." he began, and with a pause for dramatic effect, "Mudblood." He did seem to have a knack for theatrics._

 _"Malfoy," the two Gryffindor boys all but spit, disdain practically dripping from their lips. They were currently glaring at the Slytherin so hard that if looks could kill, Hermione was sure that Malfoy would be dead about ten times over._

 _"As much as I hate to rain on your parade," Malfoy spoke lazily, his voice filled with sarcasm and a hint of smugness that could only result from knowing something that they didn't. Well, never mind that; if Hermione knew the blond-haired prat at all, they were about to find out what. "I regret to inform you that your ~precious Gryffindor princess~ shall have the absolute ~pleasure~ of being my Potions partner for a while. That is, unless Slughorn decides to move us around again sometime soon, and well, you know how he is," he finished with a satisfied smirk, clearly pleased with himself as he studied the expressions each member of the trio wore._

 _Hermione felt a sense of dread wash over her entire being. Partners. With Malfoy. Her face blanched just thinking about it._

 _Ronald Weasley was the one Malfoy drew the most reaction from. He stood there with his eyes wide and his jaw seemingly a deadweight that was holding his mouth open. An angry blush crept up the redhead's neck and he stumbled over the next few words that tried to fall from his mouth._

 _Harry Potter on the other hand was not so quick to believe what Malfoy was saying. He crossed his arms over his chest, a frown tugging at his lips. "You're joking," he bit out, green eyes scrutinizing the pale Slytherin sitting but a few feet away from him, seemingly so nonplussed about the whole situation. "There's no way you would even be able to kno --"_

 _"Au contraire, Potter. You see, being second in our class does have its perks," he remarked coolly, his smirk never faltering. "But by all means, don't take my word for it. I'm sure Slughorn will have no problem confirming. In fact, I believe he was rather excited to see two of his 'brightest students' working together. We discussed it about, oh, say, 20 minutes ago?"_

 _Hermione pursed her lips. "And what exactly, pray tell, were you doing here early?" she questioned, still wanting so desperately to believe that he wasn't telling the truth._

 _"That, ~dear Mudblood~, is something for me to know... and for you to wonder endlessly about."_

 _Ron seemed about ready to lunge forward to give Malfoy the pummeling that his actions so clearly begged for, but Harry quickly grabbed his well-meaning but sometimes ill-tempered friend by the shoulders, pulling him away from the Slytherin, who only sat there and watched with bemusement as the two blundering idiots (as Malfoy so eloquently referred to them) found their seats elsewhere._

 _"I'll believe it when I hear it from Professor Slughorn," Hermione hissed, her hands curled up into fists as she stomped away to her usual table... which was located on the other side of the classroom... as far away from the blond Slytherin that she could get. Thank. Merlin._

 _Unfortunately for her, Malfoy was right. Not that she'd ever admit it. Not but a moment after their middle-aged Potions professor had entered the room, he asked them all to collect their things and stand from their current seats._

 _She couldn't help the butterflies in the pit of her stomach._

 _"Please don't be Malfoy, please don't be Malfoy," she chanted over and over again softly, her eyes closed in apprehension (And who was she kidding? She didn't want to see the infuriatingly smug 'I-told-you-so' look Malfoy would undoubtedly wear as she was sent to her metaphorical doom). He seemed to be reading the list at a most agonizingly slow pace. She would bet anything that if she opened her eyes, she'd see a gloati--_

 _"... Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy..." His voice boomed above the faint whispers of his students, though once the realization dawned on the class, there were no more whispers to be heard._

 _At least for that brief moment... What a brief moment it was._

 _Once everyone got over the initial shock of them being paired together, the whispers seemed tenfold, and she internally groaned. Repressing the urge to bolt out of the classroom and never stop running, she begrudgingly took her seat next to Draco Malfoy, arrogant ferret extraordinaire._

 _The rest of that Potions lesson had gone by in a whirlwind. It seemed the witch had gone on autopilot, and it didn't feel like but a moment later that she suddenly heard a loud 'class dismissed' followed by a reminder of their homework assignment._

 _Dissatisfied with the fact that she had gone all lesson without retribution for earlier, she made a split-second decision. The Gryffindor waited until they were in the hall, and before she really could process what was going on, Hermione pulled out her wand. With one flick, she sent the great and mighty Draco Malfoy tumbling to the ground. He only barely caught himself with his hands._

 _One might say... he got ~tied~ up._

 _Bad puns aside, she couldn't help the bubbling laughter that seeped past her lips as she looked at the result of her handiwork. Too bad it looked like Harry and Ron had already left the scene before it got interesting. And yes, sure, it might've been childish for her to be as petty as to use a spell to tie his shoes together, but she just couldn't find it in herself to care._

 _With a growl, Malfoy pushed himself back up on to his feet and fixed his shoe laces with whatever dignity hadn't just gone splat on the floor with him a few moments prior._

 _"You," he muttered, turning towards her with his eyes narrowed. He drew his wand and acted quickly, knowing that he wouldn't have a very long window of opportunity. "Expelliarmus," he practically barked, taking one, two, three, four steps closer to her, his wand still raised. With each step he gained on her, she took a step back, wincing as her shoulder blades made rather abrupt and unexpected contact with the wall she hadn't realized was so close behind her. He didn't stop there, and soon there was only half an inch of space between the two, his hands now pinning her wrists against the wall. She dared to look in his eyes, finding nothing but contempt and desire for revenge._

 _Suddenly, his expression changed._

 _"You know," he murmured, taking on a different tone completely. Hermione blinked, waiting for him to continue. "I think I quite like you like this," he mused, his lips having moved to hover next to Hermione's left ear. She could feel his warm breath hitting her neck, and she hated that it sent chills down her spine. The brunette tried everything she could to avoid looking at him, but to no avail, so she settled for closing her eyes._

 _"Alone," he whispered, purposefully emphasizing the word, taunting her._

 _"Vulnerable," the Slytherin added, daring to nibble on her earlobe briefly._

 _Hermione could feel her heart thumping in her chest. Her mind was screaming at her not to let this -- whatever it was -- happen. Where was her common sense? Where was her mind? Where was anything and everything that should have made her push Malfoy away and run as fast as she could?_

 _By now Hermione could feel his breath on her collarbone, slowly moving towards her lips._

 _"Scared, Granger?" With every movement of every word he spoke, his bottom lip brushed against hers, and she felt like she would absolutely melt. Damn him! She could practically feel the smirk on his lips._

 _"Of you? Never," she mustered breathily._

 _"We'll see about that," he murmured, and for a second, she could've sworn she'd heard him let out a small chuckle._

 _Without warning, his lips descended on her collarbone and he sucked as hard as was necessary to cause a hickey. At this, Hermione gasped and pushed him back. He'd clearly already done the damage he'd wanted to, as when she looked at the boy, he wore a triumphant grin on his lips._

 _The lips that had previously been dangerously close to kissing hers._

 _The lips that nibbled on her ear._

 _The lips that gave her a bloody hickey._

 _Her eyes narrowed into slits. "You'll pay, Malfoy, that you can be sure of," she muttered angrily, trying to mask the pure horror she felt towards the entire situation as it finally settled in._

 _"Gonna snog me to death, are you, Granger?" he questioned, leaning back towards her, a blond brow raised and a rather rotten smirk growing wider on his visage._

 _"I-- Most certai-- You insufferable-- I swear, when--" She spluttered, seeing red._

 _"Duh -- Wha-- Oh-- Huh, Granger? Can you repeat that? Maybe this time without the stuttering? I mean, I understand - I tend to have that effect on girls - but really, I expected more from you."_

 _She glowered, her hands balling into fists at her sides. It was then that she decided to walk away, silently vowing revenge._

 **END FLASHBACK**

"Granger," Malfoy called, determined to have the last word, she was sure.

"Yes, Malfoy?" She didn't bother turning around - only coming to a slow in her walk away from him.

"Answer me this," he began. He sounded so somber, she almost felt like he had something meaningful to ask. She was quickly proven wrong.

"You liked it, didn't you?" It was hard to miss the smirk in his voice.

Feeling emboldened, she smirked right back, though he couldn't see it. "Like is a strong word, Malfoy. I wouldn't go that far. Let's say, I _tolerated_ it."

Before she continued, she spun on her heels to face the blond. "Don't expect me to be so generous next time you decide to ambush me. I could've gone off screaming to Harry and Ron - maybe Professor McGonagall even. We couldn't have that, now could we? And we certainly wouldn't want it getting around that -" she gasped her, holding a hand to her chest in mock disbelief "- you would ever have feelings for a Mudblood, let alone touch one. I'm sure everyone would love to know how I got this wonderful mark on my collarbone."

With that comment, he could hear him growl lowly. She could barely hear what he muttered, but it was something along the lines of "Mine, and you know it."

In return, she muttered something suspiciously sounding like 'not property,' before letting out a harrumph. She turned, sparing one last glance at him before she made her way down another corridor. She wondered how she ever managed to put up with him, even if only sometimes.

A gentle touch to her collarbone reminded her exactly why, and she had a smile on her lips until she reached the library. It wasn't until she got there that she remembered one important thing: Malfoy still had her wand.

"Bloody ferret."

 **PHEW!**

 **I had a lot of fun writing this. Thanks for reading! I would love if you would review and let me know if you want this continued? Obviously, if I continue it, Hermione's reactions to things will be a bit different, and it won't end with the nice little twist that they're both somewhat in on it. I think I have somewhere I want to go with it if y'all are interested. Just let me know! I'm also open to any criticism or suggestion. It's been a long time since I've written and this kinda just came to me on a whim, so I'm not quite sure how good it actually is lol.**

 **Hope you enjoyed!**

 **Xx**

 **Maddie**


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